Dashnor Kaloçi
The first part
Memorie.al publishes some archival documents with the logo ‘Top secret’ issued by the Central State Archive in Tirana (fund of the former Central Committee of the ALP) where are the minutes of the meetings of the senior party and state delegation of the Republic People’s Party of Albania, headed by the Minister of National Defense, Beqir Balluku, with the high delegation of the People’s Republic of China, headed by the chairman of the military commission at the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, Ye Chen Ji, where discussed military issues, as well as the delegation led by the Minister of Trade, Kiço Ngjela, with the Chinese delegation led by the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the People’s Republic of China, Chu En Lai, where economic problems were discussed, as Albania there was an urgent need for cereals, but the Chinese government could not help them, as as a result of the drought, they could not carry out their plans and were buying nin wheat that the French had imported from the Americans! Unknown documents published for the first time with the full minutes of the two meetings held in Beijing on November 7, 1972, where the Albanian military delegation led by the Minister of National Defense, Beqir Balluku (where they took all directors of directorates and chiefs of different types of weapons of the Albanian army), it was requested that the Chinese government assist the Albanian army, with weapons of all types, starting from: light infantry weapons (rifles), artillery anti-aircraft, land and coastal, tanks, armored vehicles, ships, naval torpedo boats, chemical weapons, equipment and engineering materials, liaison, radio location, vehicles, aircraft and helicopters, mechanical tank repair plants and armored personnel carriers, ammunition and explosives, background material, etc., because according to Minister Balluku, the Albanian army was in a very difficult situation in terms of armaments, because it had World War II armaments, which had been brought by the Soviets since the ’50s.
The ‘Top Secret’ document with the minutes of the meeting of the Albanian delegation led by the Minister of People’s Defense, Beqir Balluku, with the Chinese delegation, headed by Jeh Chen Ji, chairman of the Defense Commission at the Politburo of the Communist Party of China, held in Beijing, November 7, 1972
Fund: CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE ALBANIAN LABOR PARTY
Relations with the Communist Party of China
Contents: THE FIRST MEETING OF THE RPSH MILITARY DELEGATION (CHAIRMAN BY BEQIR BALLUKU) WITH THE CHINESE FRIENDS OUR PEOPLE, AND OUR ARMIES. ON THE GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION OF ALBANIA WHERE THE INTERESTS OF THE AGGRESSIVE NATO PACTS AND THE WARSAW TREATY CROSS, THE CHOVINIST AND ANNEXIST GOALS OF THE STATES AROUND US. ON THE MEASURES TAKEN BY THE ALP, FOR THE DEFENSE OF THE COUNTRY AND THE SUBMISSION OF SOME REQUIREMENTS FOR STRENGTHENING THE DEFENSE.
THE FIRST PLENARY MEETING OF OUR DELEGATION WITH CHINESE FRIENDS, DATED 7.11.1972
In this meeting from our side, participated all the friends of the delegation and experts. From the Chinese side, there were comrades Jeh Chen Ji, Li Te Shen, Xan Chai Chien, and all representatives of arms and services as well as representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Foreign Trade, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Economic Relations with the outside world.
Comrade Jeh Chen Ji: After welcoming the delegation, he stressed that: this visit will serve greatly to further strengthen the friendship and military cooperation between the two peoples, the two parties, and the two armies of our countries.
Comrade Beqir Balluku: After thanking them for the very cordial reception given to the delegation, he noted that: we are charged by the Party and personally by Comrade Enver, with a very important mission. In the first place for the further strengthening of the great friendship between the two parties and peoples, and for the strengthening of military cooperation between our two armies. This mission entrusted to us is very important and we will try, together with you Chinese friends, to carry out this great task as best we can.
Comrade Jeh Chen Ji: What do you think, Comrade Beqir, where do we start this first meeting?!
Comrade Beqir Balluku: I think I will present a short presentation on some of the tasks assigned to our delegation.
Comrade Jeh Chen Ji: We completely agree with your opinion.
Comrade Beqir Balluku: He presented the exposition and after his speech, Comrade Jeh Çen Ji took the floor. (Comrade Beqir’s speech is in writing)
Comrade Jeh Chen Ji: I and all the other Chinese friends who are here, in this friendly and working meeting, I think that with the Albanian friends, we have a common sense of brotherhood because we did not meet today for the first time but we are old friends today and 20 years ago, we are proletarian friends and comrades. We are glad to hear here today this presentation by Comrade Beqir Balluku on the situation in Albania and the successes achieved by the Albanian people and army in the field of defense of the country. We also listened carefully to the needs and requests you made to strengthen your defense in the future. We all understand and are of the opinion that the continuous strengthening of the defense power of Albania is a necessary task for us, in order for it to remain as always a stronghold of socialism in Europe. As Comrade Mao Zedong said, Albania is a great beacon of socialism in Europe. Albania is a great example because, with its position, it serves the great issue of freedom-loving peoples, in the strategic plan.
Therefore, it is our internationalist task to help Albania as much as possible to strengthen it. The way you, Comrade Beqir, presented your requests, and the way you presented them to us makes us think that you have a great deal of trust in us. For this, we thank you from the bottom of my heart. The help that will be given to you by us, according to our possibilities to strengthen as much as possible the defense power of Albania, is our duty, because this is how President Mao constantly teaches us. Today, we were satisfied with everything that was said in this meeting by Comrade Beqir Balluku, while for the list of requests that was submitted to us, this is a task for us that we must study carefully. Today, we have come here to talk to each other, as true brothers and communists, to study together the demands of the Albanian brotherly people, just like our demands.
Our specialist friends, together with our Albanian friends, will look at these problems in the same way as their own. China unselfishly helps Albania because it is a real socialist country, so I ask all my friends to do their best to see this problem as correctly as possible. However, you also know the difficulties we have. From a classical poet we preserve these words, who said: “We have friends in this world, with them we are strongly connected, from them no matter how far we are, we have good neighbors”. Although you, Comrade Beqir, during your conversation often raised your difficulties as well as the difficulties we have, but I tell you that we must solve our problems on the path of our true friendship. The needs you have today do not match the level of development of our country. We, compared to the international level of technical development, are still behind. The great proletarian cultural revolution today is in its final stage. And we are fighting and working, to increase as much as possible the production and the technical-scientific level, in order to be equal to the developed countries of the world. We think that your requests may not all be realized today, but they may be realized in two or three years.
Comrade Beqir Balluku: To be realized in stages. This is very fair.
Comrade Jeh Chen Ji: You, Comrade Beqir, have seen it for yourself, but rest assured that with the victory of the great cultural and proletarian revolution, and with the destruction of the Lin Biao conspiracy, within 2-3 years we will become even stronger. a lot and we will move forward faster. You, comrade Beqir Balluku, mentioned that today Albania is surrounded on all four sides. This problem draws our attention. After the Second World War, from 13 socialist countries, as a result of ideological decomposition and disintegration, true socialist countries and comrades in the cause of socialism remained Albania, China, North Korea, and Vietnam. The unity of these socialist countries and their struggle for the defense of Marxism-Leninism is of great importance for the question of world revolution. The first anti-socialist and anti-Marxist renegade was Tito.
The 20-million-strong Yugoslavia, before Tito’s betrayal, has been a safe haven for Albania in the northeast. Albania is now located on all four sides surrounded in the north and northeast by Yugoslavia with 20 million, in the west with Italy with 50 million, and in the south with Greece with 8 million. Taken together, these three reach a figure of 78 million inhabitants versus a small Albania with 2,100,000 inhabitants. Here is the situation in Albania. Therefore, regarding the protection measures that should be taken by us and by you, it has often attracted our attention. The second renegade was Khrushchev, followed by the petty revisionists of Central and Eastern European countries.
With Khrushchev’s betrayal, China’s three wings, once its safe haven, have now become the front line in the fight against revisionism. For more than 30 years, Dalles, one of the leaders of American imperialism, with his reactionary policy first besieged China, and now recently with the betrayal of Khrushchev we have added another enemy in this siege, which is also social -Soviet imperialism. And together with them against our country, are put the small revisionists of Central and Eastern Europe, as well as those of Asia. Based on President Mao’s analysis of the world, there is the possibility of a new war but the general tendency of the peoples today is revolution. Therefore, both Albania and China should not lower the revolutionary vigilance at all, as we must be ready at all times.
As in the past, the people of China and Albania must always be together to defeat the attacks of the enemy. We also need to strengthen defense and the economy. For this problem we must rely heavily on the time factor. To gain time in order to become stronger as much as possible. Of course, I do not know Albania very well, but as far as I know it, I am of the opinion that the foreign policy line implemented by Comrade Enver is very fair. In the visit you made to our country in 1968, and in the conversation you had with Comrade Chu En Lai at that time, a conversation which was reflected in the protocol, I read that you raised the problem that Albania after a year, can to be attacked by its enemies. While now with the three border countries with it, Italy, Yugoslavia, and Greece, relations have been improving. Or not?!
Certainly this situation has come as a result of Comrade Enver’s straight political line. This means that Albania has gained time. China, too, is at risk of such a thing. We still need time to prepare and we will do our best to reduce the tension and save as much time as possible because this is very necessary for us. I am completely clear that the Albanian comrades understand the political line of Comrade Mao. We have already broken the blockade of the imperialist and revisionist states and we are launching a counterattack. Therefore, as I said before, there is an opportunity to save time. This of course requires joint efforts so that within a short time we, solve the problem of strengthening defense. Albania is a small country in terms of surface, so accordingly, in case of war you should prepare for both frontal war and popular war. This problem is well understood and solved by the Albanian comrades themselves. In the matter of running the army, these important problems cannot be ignored. The war will take place on land, at sea, and in the air. Which of these types of fighting do we need to develop the most ?! We think that the biggest war will take place on earth, so it should be given high priority.
Comrade Beqir Balluku: We are of the same opinion that the fate of the war is decided by the war on earth.
Comrade Jeh Chen Ji: To you, Comrade Beqir, in your speech you raised many problems for the armament of the land, naval and air forces. For these requests we will do our best and according to our possibilities we will fulfill them in the future. First, we must consider the requirements of the first year, and then those of the other years of the 5 year. Today, we feel very satisfied with the trust that our Albanian friends have in us, informing us in detail about the situation in Albania. Receipt of the book of requests is a duty book for us. So gradually we will try to fill them all: “vsjo”. This word, “vsjo”, is the language of the Soviet people, it is the language of Lenin, but not of Khrushchev and his followers. We are happy because the arrival of your friendly military delegation in our country is an encouragement and encouragement for us to move forward, it will help us and from it we will learn a lot. As you said, comrade Balluku, in our work, we will follow what every Albanian comrade, according to the types of weapons and services, to talk to our respective specialists in detail about every problem.
Comrade Beqir Balluku: Our friends will try to explain as much as possible to your friends, in order to make their work as easy as possible. As for conducting group talks, we think of doing it as you will assign it. For work needs, we can leave some necessary friends from the delegation, as we leave for visits to China, in order for them to help your friends for further clarification of the problems.
Comrade Jeh Chen Ji: Among us Albanian friends, our fraternal cooperation has become a tradition and the issues will surely be resolved.
Comrade Beqir Balluku: With you, comrade Jeh Chen Ji, we find our true brothers because you are loyal friends of Mao Zedong. You have always helped us, that is why we come here to you as your true brothers.
Comrade Jeh Cen Ji: Your words are more than right.
Comrade Beqir Balluku: Soviet revisionists have degenerated into social-imperialists. Our party and yours have constantly exposed and unmasked the Soviet revisionists, as sworn enemies of the peoples, and at the same time we and you are vigilant and ready to defend our countries with weapons against them. To us, we have no point of confidence and with the situation developing, Soviet revisionists are falling further and further. Our territorial neighbors are completely under the influence of the US and the USSR. The relative calm that exists today on our borders is conjectural and does not change at all the chauvinistic and aggressive intentions of these countries towards us. So, this calm can be broken at a certain moment, therefore, we must constantly increase the vigilance and readiness of our defense in case of aggression, to break them by waging a war with a regular front, and an effective popular war. in the background. That is why I raised in this meeting, the strengthening of our defense, that as you also heard from this exposition, we place emphasis on equipping and strengthening our ground troops, including tanks. We pray that these urgent needs we have may be met.
Comrade Jeh Chen Ji: That is our task.
Comrade Li Te Shen: This is our task.
Comrade Jeh Chen Ji: After this meeting your friends will talk to each other with our friends as a colleague with a colleague.
Comrade Beqir Balluku: Excuse me, Comrade Jeh Cen Ji, and you other Chinese comrades that we ate a lot of time in this meeting.
Comrade Jen Chen Ji: Please Comrade Beqir, this is our duty.
Comrade Beqir Balluku: Then, let me, Comrade Jeh Chen Ji, set you free and thank you for this cordial meeting you have given us.
Goodbye. Memorie.al
The next issue follows
